Wedding fever is on the horizon in EastEnders, though there could be one notable absence.
Ahead of Vicki Fowler’s big day, actress Alice Haig has addressed the possibility of her half-sister Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) returning for the big day.
Sharon has spent much of the last year visiting Vicki’s mum, her old pal Michelle Fowler, in Florida. She originally departed following Martin Fowler’s (James Bye) funeral, admitting to her family that she needed time away to grieve.
She finally staged a comeback in September last year, after hearing that Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) had returned to Walford and was seeking the estranged son she’d conceived with her late husband Dennis Rickman.
Sharon was furious, still blaming Zoe for her dad Den’s demise two decades earlier, though eventually offered to cough up the cash that she needed to pay for a private investigator. If she found the missing child, he could potentially reignite some of Dennis’s legacy.
At the same time, things were pretty turbulent for Vicki. Her fiancé Ross Marshall’s (Alex Walkinshaw) troubled son Joel (Max Murray) enacted a violent attack on her, and Sharon whisked her away to a Lake District retreat to recover.
Vicki returned alone, explaining that Sharon was enraged to learn Zoe had lied Dennis being the father, and would be revoking funding for the PI.
However, with wedding bells about to ring out across the East End, could Sharon be tempted to jump on a flight?
“Wouldn’t that be lovely,” Haig told Radio Times and other media.
“I think Vicki is going to need all the family she can get.”
Of course, as viewers know, the nuptials will take an explosive turn. After watching Vicki walk down the aisle, Ross will be ask Vicki outright if she has been cheating on him with Sharon’s half-brother Zack Hudson (James Farrar).
It’s a wedding that will surely go down in the soap history books!
Fortunately for Vicki, if Sharon can’t make the transatlantic journey, she has plenty of support from her great aunt Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), and younger brother Mark (Stephen Aaron-Sipple).
“Kathy really steps up, she’s there before it starts. You see her on the morning of the wedding, sorting out the marquee, organising the flowers, she’s got her clipboard as well,” Haig explained.
“She’s providing a lot of support for Vicki.”
She continued: “You’ve also got Mark. There’s a tight knit family group – even Ian’s around helping! Everyone has kind of rallied around to make this wedding happen.”
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Amid the sticky situation, Vicki will once again be forced to choose between Ross and Zack, but who does Haig think her alter-ego should pick?
“First things first, both actors are fantastic to work with, and we’ve got such a great sort of family bond in No 43, and so we have a real laugh filming the three of us,” she reflected.
“I think that Ross is the right person for her. Having said that, Joel is a real thorn in the side of their relationship, and it’s very difficult to see how they can properly move forward from that.”
She added: “I think Zack provided something for Vicki after the Joel thing that was invaluable. I think that’s the realisation she really comes to on the day before the wedding, is that he helped her in ways that Ross just couldn’t at the time because he was too connected to Joel.
“She owes both of them a lot in many ways, and it’s a hard choice because she does fancy Zack… of course, who wouldn’t!”
Read more:
- 7 EastEnders spoilers next week: Vicki Fowler’s wedding day chaos and Denise Fox’s medical shock
- EastEnders legend teases “dangerous” dynamic between Max Branning and Cindy Beale
- EastEnders boss teases “emotional” Denise Fox scenes from blood cancer storyline after 20 years on the show
- EastEnders wins Soap award at BAFTA Television Awards 2026 as fan-favourite delivers speech amid anniversary
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